Sena Stress, Thackeray's Test: Ambedkar-led VBA Won’t Support MVA Candidates in Maha Bypolls

The Prakash Ambedkar-led Vanchit Bahujan Aghadi (VBA), which recently forged an alliance with Uddhav Thackeray’s faction of the Shiv Sena, before the Election Commission’s (EC) decision to give away the symbol and party name of Shiv Sena to the Eknath Shinde-led group, has decided not to support the Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA) candidate in the upcoming bypolls.

On February 26, by-poll elections will be held for Kasba Pethe (Pune) and Pimpri-Chinchwad. The MVA is the alliance of the Thackeray faction with the Congress and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

Although the MVA is trying hard to show they are united, the VBA has decided to support an independent candidate.

VBA spokesperson Siddharth Mokale, while speaking to News18, said, “The Congress doesn’t look united in the state. Top leaders of the Congress are giving statements against their state president. The relationship between the NCP and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) is also a cause of concern for us. We want to stop the BJP from coming to power.”

TRUST ISSUES WITH NCP

“The NCP, in 2014, had extended outside support to the BJP to form a government in the state. In the 2019 early morning swearing-in of BJP’s Devendra Fadnavis as the CM, Ajit Pawar of NCP had taken oath as the Deputy Chief Minister. Considering these factors, we are not supporting the NCP in the Pimpri by-polls. Also, the Pimpri candidate should been Rahul Kalate, as he has got a strong hold in the area, but the MVA didn’t give him a ticket. We are supporting him as he is contesting as an independent,” Mokale said.

ANOTHER HIT FOR UDDHAV

The VBA decision will hit Thackeray the most, as he will have to strike a balance between his alliance partners. As the VBA is repeatedly making statements against the NCP and Congress just before the by-polls, there is confusion about the MVA in the minds of voters.

Uddhav faction leader Anand Dubey said, “Our leader is Uddhav Thackeray, he is also the main leader of MVA. He had already said that he would try to bring Prakash Ambedkar along with the MVA. The talks are on. We will fight the Lok Sabha or assembly elections together. Before that we hope the VBA becomes part of the MVA. They are an independent party, we don’t know why he took this decision.”

Another ally in the MVA, the NCP, reacted sharply to the move. NCP spokesperson Clyde Crasto said, “Sharad Pawar is a big leader of the country. If someone has differences with him, what should we do? The Shiv Sena is part of the MVA and Ambedkar has tied up with one party of the MVA, but is not a member of the MVA. By criticising Sharad Pawar, Ambedkar is trying to get the fame he is looking for.”

Post the split, Thackeray tried to forge an alliance with different parties to strengthen himself. However, the leaders with whom Thackeray has tied up are fighting among themselves. If this rift is not resolved before the much-awaited Mumbai civic body elections, Thackeray’s troubles will increase further, say experts.

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